Two-way ladder



March 5, 1940. D GERD S 2,192,830

TWO-WAY LADDER Filed Oct. 27, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Janie] gardens March5, 1940. D. GERDES TWO-WAY LADDER Filed Oct. 27, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2flan/112i Grdes Patented Mar. 5, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 8Claims.

This invention relates to an improved ladder adapted for use either as astraight ladder, stepladder or extension ladder.

It is an aim of this invention to provide an improved ladder of simple,durable and economical construction which may be readily folded intohalf of its length for storage or for use as a straight ladder, providedwith means for extending the ladder to twice its folded length and forrigidly maintaining it in an extended position or for assembling it inthe form of a step-ladder.

More particularly, it is an aim of this invention to provide improvedmeans for pivotally connecting the ladder sections whereby the adjacentends of the rails will be in abutting engagement when extended and meanscarried by said ends and movable relatively thereto to overlap thepivoted portions for rigidly maintaining them in an extended positionrelatively to each other.

Still a further object of the" invention, is to provide pivotallymounted brace members carried by one of the ladder sections toreleasably engage the other section to position the sections at acuteangles to each other to provide a stepladder.

other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter becomemore fully apparent from the following description of the drawings,which illustrate a preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view showing the ladder in an extended position,

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line 2-2 ofFigure 1, it Figure 3 is a side elevational view showing the laddersections assembled as a stepladder,

Figure 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the line t-t ofFigure 3,

Figure 5 is a longitudinal sectional view take along the line 5-5 ofFigure 2,

Figure 6 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line 6-6 ofFigure 5,

Figure 7 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 1-1!of'Figure 5,

Figure 8 is a fragmentary sectional view of the parts seen in Figure 6,shown in a partially folded position as they would appear in Figure 3,and

Figure 9 is a fragmentary side elevational view, partly in section,showing the sleeve members as they would appear when the ladder sectionsare folded or partially folded.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, wherein like referencecharacters designate like or corresponding parts throughout thedifferent views, til designates generally the ladder which includes thecorresponding sections II and I2 each of which is formed of a pair ofside rails l3 connected by a plurality 'of spaced rungs ll.

The adjacent ends of the rails l3 of both sections are slotted, asindicated at I5, and are pro- 5 vided with the pins l6 which extendthrough the slotted portions IS The corresponding adjacent ends of therails l3 are connected by the links H, provided with the slots l8 whichslidably and pivotally engage the pins It, as best seen in Figure 10 8.As seen in Figure 6, slots l8 permit the links H to slide relatively tothe slots it so as to be disposed within said slots when the ladder I0is 7 extended, as in Figure 1, so that the ends of the rails l3 arepositioned in abutting engagement to 1 rest one upon the other ratherthan on the links H. When the sections II and it are folded to form astepladder, as in Figure 3, or disposed in a fully folded position, notshown, the links are extended relatively to the rails and the pins I6 20engage the outer ends of the slots I 8, as seen in Figure 8 rather thanthe inner ends, as seen in Figure 6, when the ladder is extended.

A pair of relatively short sleeves or collars l9 are mounted on therails ii of the section ll 25 resting against the top rung l4 thereofand projecting upwardly or toward the pivoted ends of the rails. Sleevesit are of the same cross sectional shape as the rails l3 and may beloosely mounted thereon or rigidly secured thereto, as desired. A pairof sleeve members 20 are mounted on the side rails it of section Itbetween their pivoted ends and the first rung I t and are substantiallylonger than the sleeve members E9 to extend, when in a retractedposition as seen 35 in Figure 8, to the pivoted ends of these rails, andas seen in dotted lines in Figure 8, are provided with the slots M toreceive the links I? when the ladder sections are folded or partiallyfolded. Sleeves Zil on either side of slots N, are provided 44) with thestruck-out portions forming the lugs 22 which rest on the upper ends ofthe rails it of section it, when said sections are positioned to form astepladder, to rigidly hold said ends rela-v tively to each other aswill hereinafter be more is fully explained.

When the ladder sections are extended as in Figure l, sleeves it may bemoved to their projected positions to engage sleeves i9 and to enclosethe pivoted ends of the rails i3, and as 450 these sleeves fit snugly onthe rails the two sec-' tions will be thereby rigidly held in theirextended position. Section i 2 is intended to be the upper section ofthe ladder so that the sleeves 20 will be held by gravity in theposition as seen in Figure 1, to hold the ladder sections extended untilthe sleeves are manually retracted, to the position as seen in Figure 3.The sleeves l9 and may be provided with notches on their innersides andat their remote ends, relatively to each other, to engage the rungs llas indicated in Figure 9.

It will be noted, that when-the ladder sections II and ii are extended,as in Figure 1, that the adjacent rungs ll of the two sections arespaced much farther apart than the rungs of each section and to bridgethis space, the sleeves 20 are provided with the inwardly extendingsockets 23 in which the opposite ends of a rung 24 are supported. Rung26 also connects the sleeves 20 so that they may move only as a unit.

A pair of brace members are pivotally connected to the side rails iii ofthe section ii intermediate of the ends of said rails and are providedwith the notches 25, adjacent their free ends. Headed studs 21 projectoutwardly from the side rails i3 of the section 52 to connect with toform a stepladder, and in this position the lugs 22 engage the ends ofthe rails it of section it to prevent play between the pivoted ends ofthese sections.

From the foregoing it will be seen, that the sections ii and it mayreadily be folded one against the other for storage or for use whereonly a short straight ladder is required. By partially opening thesections to the position as seen in Figure 3, the ladder it may beemployed as a stepladder with the free ends of the rails iii of eachsection resting on the .ground or other supporting surface and with thesections connected intermediate of their ends by the braces 25, asheretofore explained. To extend sections ii and it, from their positionsforming a stepladder, braces 25 are disconnected from section it whichis then swung inwardly and moved downwardly slightly to disengage thelugs 22 from the upper edges of the rails it of the section II. SectionI2 may then be swung on its pins l6, as a pivot, through an arc ofsubstantially 180 and then moved to position the pivotally connectedends of its rails IS in abutting engagement with the corresponding endsof rails i3 of section II, as seen in Figures 5 and 6. By extending thesections ii and i2 relatively to each other and by moving the collars 20to the position as seen in Figure 1, the ladder is adapted for use as along straight ladder with the rung 24 forming one of the rungs thereof.In this position, the braces 25 hang against the sides of the rails i3of the section II, as seen in Figure 1.

If desired, the rungs of one or both of the sections may be made in theform of steps and various other modifications and changes may obviouslybe made and are contemplated, and the right is reserved to make suchvariations as do not depart from the spirit and scope of the inventionas hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A ladder comprising two corresponding sections, each formed of spacedside rails connected by a plurality of spaced rungs, means pivotallyconnecting said sections at their corresponding ends for folding thesections and for disposing them at an acute angle to each other toprovide a stepladder, said means being slidably and pivotally connectedto each of the sections, sleeve members slidably mounted on the rails ofsaid sections between their upper rungs and their pivoted ends, and onepair of said sleeve members being movable into engagement with thepivoted ends of said sections when they are disposed in the same plane,to retain the pivotally connected ends in end to and relationship toform a straight ladder. 2. A ladder comprising two ladder sections eachformed of spaced rails connected by a plurality of rungs, links slidablyand pivotally connected to the adjacent ends of said sections forpivotally connecting the sections, sleeve members mounted on the siderails of the pivoted ends of said sections, and one pair of said sleevemembers being slidably mounted to engage and enclose said pivoted endsfor rigidly retaining said sections in an extended position relativelyto each other and with their pivoted ends in abutting end to endrelationship.

3. A device as in claim 2, said slidable sleeve members being connectedby a rung disposed between the rungs of the adjacent ends of saidsections when said ladder is in an extended position.

4. A device as in claim 2, comprising lugs formed on corresponding endsof the slidably mounted sleeve members for engaging the pivoted end oftheother section, when the sections are at an acute angle to each other,to retain the links in extended position relatively to the sections.

5. A ladder comprising two ladder sections each formed of spaced siderails connected by a plurality of spaced rungs, the side rails of theadjacent ends of said sections being slotted and provided with pinsextending through said slots, links, provided with slots to engage. saidpins for pivotally and slidably connecting the rails of the sections topivotally mount the sections relatively to each other, said sectionsbeing movable from a folded to an extended position, said link membersbeing disposed in said slots when the ladder sections are extended toposition the adjacent ends of said rails in abutting engagement, andmeans mounted on the side rails and adjacent ends of said sections forrigidly retaining the sections in an extended position.

6. A device as in claim 5, said means comprisin a pair of sleevesmounted on the rails of one section and movable to engage the pivotedends of said rails.

DANIEL GERDES.

